Where is Sun Peaks?

Sun Peaks is located in Canada in the South Central Interior of BC. The closest town is Kamloops (population 85,000) which is only 58km southwest of Sun Peaks (a 45 minute drive). Sun Peaks is 409km northeast of Vancouver, a 4.5 hour drive. Sun Peaks sits in foothills on the western edge of the Shuswap Highlands.

Flights

The Kamloops Airport (YKA) is 60km from Sun Peaks. This regional airport has daily flights to and from Vancouver and Calgary.

Many visitors prefer to fly into Kelowna International Airport because Kamloops sometimes has closures due to weather issues, and Kelowna receives more flights from more destinations. Kelowna has direct service from Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Edmonton, Seattle and Los Angeles (United). Kelowna airport is 210km southeast of Sun Peaks (2.5 hour drive).

You can use a flight search aggregator to look for flights to Kelowna or Kamloops.

Airport Shuttles to Sun Peaks
If Sun Peaks is the only destination on your ski vacation, it’s best to get a shuttle between the airport and Sun Peaks. You won’t need a car at Sun Peaks because the village is reasonably compact.

Airport shuttles from either Kamloops or Kelowna can be included in Sun Peaks ski packages or they can be organised directly with Sun Star Shuttle. The airport shuttles from Kelowna cost a little more than those from Kamloops.

Driving to Sun Peaks

The drive up to Sun Peaks during winter is via Highway 5, and the road that heads east from there is 35km up to Sun Peaks. The road starts as Tod Mountain Rd which turns into Henley Louis Creek Rd and then Creekside Way. The drive is very easy because the road is very wide and not windy, it only has a little steepness towards the end, and the road is well maintained.

Parking is provided by the Sun Peaks accommodations for overnight guests, which is largely underground. For day trippers there is parking outside the main base lodge, and there’s also day parking at the base of the Burfield chair lift, and on the road to the east of the village (serviced by shuttles that run about every half hour during the day).

Getting Around Sun Peaks

The East Village is further developing. Meanwhile most of the mainstream accommodation is located in the central village along with the majority of the restaurants, facilities and shops. Everything in the central village is compact and it’s easy to walk around Sun Peaks along the pedestrian-only snow covered street (there are also snow-free covered walkways alongside the buildings). Alternatively it’s easy to ski-down the street, skate up it, or other forms of locomotion include being pulled along in a sled (but probably only if you’re an infant!).

If you’re staying at the youth hostel at the Burfield base, it’s about 2.2km to get to the central village. The outer-lying vacation rentals are also not easy walking distance to and from the central village.

Other Ski Resorts Nearby

Harper Mountain is located about 18km out of Kamloops. Harper is just a little family fun ski area for the Kamloopies (those that live in Kamloops!).

Road distances to other BC ski resorts and ski areas:

Silver Star ski resort is 191km to the southwest (2:30 hours). There is a shuttle that operates Thursday through Sunday between the two ski resorts.

Big White ski resort is 270 km to the southwest (3:30 hours). There is a shuttle that operates Thursday through Sunday between the two ski resorts.